Sunday 24th of November 2024
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master of disaster .....

‘Here is the great discovery of the little man who doesn’t read. America is not the land of the free, nor of the brave, nor of the politically sentient. Nor is it a country of laws or of principles. It is a country of those who just do as they want. A president can do anything he chooses. Who will tell him no? Nobody has.

Today there is speculation as to whether he will make war, perhaps nuclear war, on Iran. The universal assumption seems to be that if he wants to, he will just do it. The legislature, already having given up its authority to declare war, seems to regard the military as the private guard of the president. Is it not interesting that one dim, pugnacious, ignorant little man can bring on nuclear war all by himself?

When Mr Bush gets caught lying or breaking the law, he shows no embarrassment, contrition, or sense of having done anything wrong. He seems to have no conception of right and wrong, of principle. He is not accustomed to being told “no,” and accepts no constraints on his power. All that matters to him is that he gets his way.

He gets it.’

Creeping Dictatorship

"Politicians are like diapers. They should both be changed frequently & for the same reason."

Anon 

 


 

whooops .....

‘A commission formed to assess the Iraq war and recommend a new course has ruled out the prospect of victory for America, according to draft policy options shared with The New York Sun by commission officials.

Currently, the 10-member commission - headed by a secretary of state for President George H.W. Bush, James Baker - is considering two option papers, "Stability First" and "Redeploy and Contain," both of which rule out any prospect of making Iraq a stable democracy in the near term.

More telling, however, is the ruling out of two options last month. One advocated minor fixes to the current war plan but kept intact the long-term vision of democracy in Iraq with regular elections. The second proposed that coalition forces focus their attacks only on Al Qaeda and not the wider insurgency.

Instead, the commission is headed toward presenting President Bush with two clear policy choices that contradict his rhetoric of establishing democracy in Iraq. The more palatable of the two choices for the White House, "Stability First," argues that the military should focus on stabilizing Baghdad while the American Embassy should work toward political accommodation with insurgents.

The goal of nurturing a democracy in Iraq is dropped.’

Baker's Panel Rules Out Iraq Victory

"Your captain is mad"

From Our ABC

Bush vows to press on as Iraq unrest increases
United States President George W Bush has again vowed to stay the course in Iraq, despite the growing violence.

In his weekly radio address, Mr Bush said he would not pull US troops off the battlefield until - as he put it - the mission was complete.

"There are some in Washington who argue that retreating from Iraq would make us safer. I disagree," he said.

"Retreating from Iraq would allow the terrorists to gain a new safe haven from which to launch new attacks on America.

"Retreating from Iraq would dishonour the men and women who have given their lives in that country, and mean their sacrifice has been in vain.

"And retreating from Iraq would embolden the terrorists, and make our country, our friends, and our allies more vulnerable to new attacks."

The US military in Iraq says three US marines were killed in combat in Iraq's western Anbar province yesterday.

It raises to nearly 80 the number of US troops killed in Iraq in this month alone, while about 40 Iraqis continue to die every day in violent incidents.

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Gus: I had a friend who was a helmsman on a warship, once... As he advised the captain of land and rocks ahead, he was ordered to stay the course... He knew there was no escape but, without advising his captain, he swiftly turned the wheel, changing the course 90 degrees just in time... the ship just grazed the rocks that would have sunk it had the course be maintained... Was it a test of authority, of resolve, of stupidity? Not really... the captain had just gone simply mad.

My friend died in a freak car accident a few years later on...

Method in the madness

from our ABC

Bush drops 'stay the course' slogan for Iraq
The White House says President George W Bush has retired his "stay the course" slogan for Iraq, worried about its use as a weapon against his Republican Party in the November elections.

Mr Bush appears to have last used the expression on August 30, when he vowed: "We will stay the course, we will help this young Iraqi democracy succeed, and victory in Iraq will be a major ideological triumph" in the war on terrorism.

"He's stopped using it," said spokesman Tony Snow.

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Gus see the cartoon above...

extended lexicon for a mad man

From the Chicago Tribune

Stay the course, change the words
Posted by Mark Silva at 4:38 pm CDT

President Bush insists that the United States stay the course in Iraq, but he isn’t talking about staying the course anymore. The White House says that term leaves “the wrong impression’’ about what’s going on.

“I don’t think he’s used that term in a while,’’ White House spokesman Tony Snow said today at the daily press briefing, adding a little more emphatically: “He stopped using it.’’

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Gus: Yes "stay the course" has been replaced. The president has done a "360 degrees course-change"...